Return
by angyl-devyl
Summary: Rogue returns. Returns to a life that was thrown into chaos by mutant haters. Returns to the old gang, only to find that they are not what they used to be. Still, she returns all the same. Enjoy.
1. Beginings

_I'm not afraid to be on my own._

Greetings oh crazy readers, I have returned to the insanity of writing for you. Its been... 4 years? since I posted my last story and I am so amazed and thankful to the people that find and read my stories. Mostly it is my HP fic "This Ain't No Fairy Tale" and I am proud to report that after all these years people are still reading it. :O So crazy.

Allow me to lay out the ground rules for the new one. This is going to contain gore, this is going to be unpleasant, this is not going to be nice.

If you squick easily, or are under the age of 18 I expect you to stop reading **now**

As you can tell from the section this will be an X-men Evo Fic based on Rogue and Remy. Now, I don't own Rogue, or Remy and I still don't own a cat (Land Lords are Evil) All characters that are recognisable are the property of marvel comics, all other characters are the creation of my own little mind.

That said. If you have passed the over 18 and like (or can at least handle) gore then please, read on, and enjoy the ride

P.s. I am Australian, We spell some words different to the USA ie: Recognisable instead of Recognizable. Don't let it annoy you! Apologies also for my accents. I am out of practice as far as these go. Please imagine that they are correct in your head when you read. :D

~A~

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She hit the ground running, the sudden jolt of hitting the ground jarring her knees in unpleasant ways but despite the pain she kept on running. It had taken her too long to get out of the facility and there was no way in hell that she was going back. It was only a matter of time before they discovered that she had broken out and once they started to hunt her it wouldn't take them long to bring her back.

They had tranquiliser darts, net launchers, tazers, all non-lethal and non damaging, but quite capable of bringing her down if they caught up to her. Breath burning in her throat she continued through the forest, the twigs and rocks on the uneven ground tearing into the soft soles of her bare feet. Four weeks of her life lost, four weeks of being prodded and poked and tested on. Four weeks of not knowing if her friends were still alive, or if they had been taken as well.

The thought caught her by surprise. What if her friends had been captured when they had taken her. What if she was running away from the facility where her friends were being held? She shook her head to clear the thoughts, nearly running head long into a tree in the process. Her friends were not there. Paranoia was making her think her friends were back there and that was a withdrawal from the drugs they had given her. Logic won, this time and she started running again.

A lot of things happened at once. Alarms started ringing in the distance, behind her, they'd discovered that she had escaped. Of course the escape had been quite cliche. Taking out a couple of bars on the window, tearing her bed sheet into strips and making a rope to climb down the wall. But it had worked and that was the important thing. Not everyone in the world could teleport from one point to another, or walk through walls, so she had to make do with what she could.

The second thing that happened when the alarms started ringing was she hear the sound of traffic. coming from in front of her, a road maybe. hopefully a highway or a freeway. A dirt road would have been fine. The decision to flag down the first car she saw by jumping in front of it was discarded as illogical, she needed to make sure she would not be run over. A secondary, less dramatic decision made itself known to her mind. Get to the road, Stand on the side of the road, Flag down a car, get a lift to somewhere with a phone and ring the professor.

Tears prickled behind her eyes as she thought of the professor, of the safety that the institute offered. He had been quite correct in telling them that the world was not ready to deal with mutants as a whole. Too correct, as if he had know the reaction of the world long before they knew mutants existed. She wondered if the institute was still standing, if they would remember, or even want her back. Angrily brushing tears away she threw herself into running for the road. They WOULD want her back. As she reached the road and began to flag down cars Rogue thought of the reunion between herself and the Xmen. They would have so many questions. Questions that she did not know if she could answer. They would hug her and cry with her, Professor McCoy would insist that she spend time in the infirmary and heal. Kurt would be ecstatic to see her, and she him and Rogue knew that she would never ask the one question that had been burning in her mind since she was taken. "why" why hadn't they found her and rescued her. Why was she left to her own devices, left to find her own way home?

Lights on the horison flicked to low beam and she waved her hand frantically at the car that had begun to slow. It stopped next to her and the passenger side window rolled down an inch, the female driver seemed very cautious.

"Are ya ok? D' ya need a lift somewhere honey?" A woman's voice spoke from the drivers seat. She had a distinctly Southern accent. Soft, sweet and melodic, almost the same as the way Remy talked when he wanted something from her. Rogue tried to remember how to answer such a concerned voice.

"Please, could you give me a ride to the nearest town? Ah went hiking and got lost in the forest. Ah gotta call my folks." The story was thought of as she spoke, she must have looked like hell to the lady in the car. The lady who was nodding and reaching over to let her into the car.

"Sure Sug' hop in, I'll run ya into Ne'Orleans. Ya Just lucky that today ah was..." she paused as Rogue got into the car and looked her up and down "Sug' what happened to ya shoes? ya feets all cut up." Rogue shrugged apologetically, not knowing what to say, the Lady nodded again "I think maybe ya should come back to the Bayou with me. Ne'Orleans may not be the safest place for ya at the moment. Ya can make ya calls from there." Rogue sighed, trapped again, this time by the strangers kindness. The lady flicked on the car indicator and pulled away from the side of the road as bright search lights began to sweep the forest.

"So, what do I call ya Sug?" The lady asked with a smile. Rogue shifted uncomfortably in the car seat, but tried to make it look like she was just reaching for the seat belt to put on.

"oh.. Ah'm Rogue." Trying to cover for her strange name "Ah had strange parents." The lady didn't pry she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel "what do ah call you?"

Without hesitation the lady answers "Tante Mattie, That's what everyone else calls me." Rogue looked thoughtful.

"Tante, thats Cajun for aunty isn't it?" Tante laughed

"It is Rogue. Ya have a problem with that?" Rogue didn't answer, she just shook her head. "Ya look tired Rogue, ya can sleep, its a bit of a drive back." If Rogue had felt suspicious of the lady before, now she should have had every single alarm bell in her head ringing, instead she took Tantes advice, crossed her arms over her chest and snuggled back into the seat, drifting into the black oblivion of sleep without a lick of trouble.

Only after she was sure that the child was asleep did Tante allow worry to crease over her face. Could it be even slightly possible that this young lady was the missing mutant that nearly everyone had been spending precious time looking for. Could this girl possibly be the one that Remy, bless him, was so infatuated he had vowed not to sleep until she was found? Could this really be Rogue.

Tante put her foot down and sped along the road back towards the Bayou and the guild house that stood there.

Truly, there was only one way to find out.

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~A~


	2. Lucky Break

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**A/N: I return! Sorry its taken me a long time to post the next chapter and THANK YOU to everyone that has added this story to their watch list. A special thank you to those that have left me feed back.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men or their related enemies.. I still do not own a cat. (Though I am working on getting air conditioning in my apartment.. I don't know if that counts)**

**Meh.. read and review please!**

Remy took a deep breath and settled down into the comfiest chair in the mans office. he was at his wits end and was hoping that this man could help him find Rogue. Since she had gone missing he had pooled all his resources, called in all his favours and still he hadn't found her.A long shot lead had lead him to a richly furnished office that belonged to a man who he had only agreed to go and see once he had worn out every other possibility for finding Rogue.

Dennis Mallory was slimy, Remy had heard about the him through a friend of a friend of a friend, it seemed that his reputation exceeded him. Dennis, was short in stature, with greying hair and a widows peak forming on his wrinkled brow. He could have been someones favorite family doctor, especially dressed as he was in a brown tweed suit, complete with leather patches on the elbows.

Instead Dennis Mallory traded and trafficked in human flesh and he had a nasty habit of finding pretty young mutants who might be purchased by his continually lengthening list of buyers. He had listened to Remy talking about Rogue and had politely looked at the picture of her that Remy supplied.

"She is a very pretty young lady Mr Lebeau, and a mutant no less, very highly sought after, and very highly priced" Remy's eyes darkened and he glared at the man the unspoken _'how much'_ was easy to read. Mallory named a price that would have made Remy's eye brows lift in shock if he hadn't been so angry. No wonder Rogue had gone missing if people were willing to pay THAT much to have a mutant as a sex slave.

"And that, Mr Lebeau, is just to find the young lady. It will be double to have her returned safely. I'm sure if she were sold through me then the buyer will want compensation for loosing their pet."

Remy had heard enough he lifted the brief case he had bought with him onto the table and put it down. "Down payment is half. you find her and tell me where she is and I will pay the rest. I don't want you to bring her back." Dennis drummed his fingers on the desk top. He had heard this bravado all before. he was fairly sure he hadn't even had dealings with the girl, he would have remembered the white streaks that framed her face, but if it was a way of making a quick buck out of a desperate person and Dennis Mallory had built his empire on making quick dollars out of desperate people.

Remy turned the case around and snapped open the locks so that Mallory could count the money. As he did so the phone in his pocket began to vibrate. He excused himself and pulled the phone out and answered it. Mallroy ignored his rudeness and began counting the money, stacking it into piles on his desk.

Dennis Mallory had counted only four hundred thousand dollars out when Lebeau returned to his seat and said in a calm tone.

"Mallory, I think dat yous lied to Remy." His eye brows shot up in surprise.

"I beg your pardon Mr Lebeau?"

"See, Remy jus' got a phone call from his Tante in Ne'orleans. Saying dat she picked up Rogue near da theives guild house." Dennis swore quietly to himself, sometimes desperate people got good news before they left him with the money.

"So Remy, he be thinkin' dat you need ta put dat money back into da case and forget dat ya ever met wit him." Mallory knew a threat when he heard one and nodded hurriedly packing the money back into the case, secreting approximately twenty thousand dollars into his lap as he packed. Remy shook his head and stood, walking smoothly around the desk and grasping Dennis by the back of the neck before slamming his face against the desk. "Pack all of it back in. You wasn't no help ta Remy at all so you get nothing." Dennis nodded and made sure all of the money went back into the case. Remy closed the locks and released Dennis before he picked up the case and glared at the trafficker. "next time you see Remy he will be taking you down Mallory"

Then he was gone from the office. Leaving Dennis Mallory wondering if he seriously needed to find a new line of work.

Remy drove fast, knowing that if Jean-Luc, Henri or Tante, especially Tante could have seen where the needle on the speedometer was that he would have been banned from driving by his own family. He felt lucky that they had begun to accept him back into their folds after his refusal to help Jean-Luc destroy the Rippers stronghold. He believed that Tante had finally brow beat his father into listening to him.

He pushed his foot down to the floor and his car screamed about being so badly abused. Tante had told him that she had found a girl claiming to be Rogue wandering in the swamps on the main road to New Orleans from the guild house she had fallen asleep in the car and still slept in a bed at the guild house. Remy was determined to be back at the guild house before she woke so that he could look into her eyes when she opened them, so she knew that she was safe.

Safe with him.

It had been four weeks of hell for him. He hadn't stopped looking the whole time and it was desperation that had sent him to the family for help. They had, getting in contact with their own people and getting him the Dennis Mallory lead. Jean-Luc had lent him the money to pay the man, not that he needed to, Remy had his own finances, but Jean-Luc truly believed that paying to help find Rogue was a way of patching up part of the damage he had inflicted on his son. Mallory had turned out to be a terrible lead but bless Tante and her kind heart that regularly picked up hitch hikers and strangers and dropped them off in New Orleans or invited them home for a good hot meal. Bless Tante and her love of strays.

He slugged from the can of energy drink that had kept him going when he knew he should have been asleep. Scarily, every time he had shut his eyes over the past four weeks he could see Rogue. Hear her screaming as people shrouded in darkness poked and prodded at her, stabbed her with needles, pulled her apart and put her back together wrong. Every time his body failed him and dropped him into slumber the nightmares met him with open arms.

But now. Now that she could possibly be safe, he would check and make sure she was alright and then maybe the nightmares would leave him alone.

Maybe.


End file.
